M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
18 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, I am the Lord your God.
3 You shall not do as was done in the land of Egypt in which you dwelt, nor shall you do as is done in the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you; neither shall you walk in their statutes.
4 You shall do My ordinances and keep My statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.
5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My ordinances which, if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord.(A)
6 None of you shall approach anyone close of kin to him to have sexual relations. I am the Lord.
7 The nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother, you shall not uncover; she is your mother; you shall not have intercourse with her.
8 The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.
9 You shall not have intercourse with or uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father or of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad.
10 You must not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; their nakedness you shall not uncover, for they are your own flesh.
11 You must not have intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter; begotten by your father, she is your sister; you shall not uncover her nakedness.
12 You shall not have intercourse with your father’s sister; she is your father’s near kinswoman.
13 You shall not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s near kinswoman.
14 You shall not have intercourse with your father’s brother’s wife; you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.
15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife; you shall not have intercourse with her.
16 You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife; she belongs to your brother.
17 You shall not marry a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse; they are [her] near kinswomen; it is wickedness and an outrageous offense.
18 You must not marry a woman in addition to her sister, to be a rival to her, having sexual relations with the second sister when the first one is alive.
19 Also you shall not have intercourse with a woman during her [menstrual period or similar] uncleanness.
20 Moreover, you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her.
21 You shall not give any of your children to pass through the fire and sacrifice them to Molech [the fire god], nor shall you profane the name of your God [by giving it to false gods]. I am the Lord.
22 You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.(B)
23 Neither shall you lie with any beast and defile yourself with it; neither shall any woman yield herself to a beast to lie with it; it is confusion, perversion, and degradedly carnal.
24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in all these things the nations are defiled which I am casting out before you.
25 And the land is defiled; therefore I visit the iniquity of it upon it, and the land itself vomits out her inhabitants.
26 So you shall keep My statutes and My ordinances and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither the native-born nor any stranger who sojourns among you,
27 For all these abominations have the men of the land done who were before you, and the land is defiled—
28 [Do none of these things] lest the land spew you out when you defile it as it spewed out the nation that was before you.
29 Whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from among [his] people.
30 So keep My charge: do not practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you and defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.
Psalm 22[a]
To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar [the hind of the morning dawn]. A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?(A)
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You answer not; and by night I am not silent or find no rest.
3 But You are holy, O You Who dwell in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].
4 Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted (leaned on, relied on You, and were confident) and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You and were delivered; they trusted in, leaned on, and confidently relied on You, and were not ashamed or confounded or disappointed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; I am the scorn of men, and despised by the people.(B)
7 All who see me laugh at me and mock me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,(C)
8 He trusted and rolled himself on the Lord, that He would deliver him. Let Him deliver him, seeing that He delights in him!(D)
9 Yet You are He Who took me out of the womb; You made me hope and trust when I was on my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from my very birth; from my mother’s womb You have been my God.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.
12 Many [foes like] bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have hedged me in.(E)
13 Against me they opened their mouths wide, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is softened [with anguish] and melted down within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; [with thirst] my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You have brought me into the dust of death.(F)
16 For [like a pack of] dogs they have encompassed me; a company of evildoers has encircled me, they pierced my hands and my feet.(G)
17 I can count all my bones; [the evildoers] gaze at me.(H)
18 They part my clothing among them and cast lots for my raiment (a long, shirtlike garment, a seamless undertunic). (I))
19 But be not far from me, O Lord; O my Help, hasten to aid me!
20 Deliver my life from the sword, my dear life [my only one] from the power of the dog [the agent of execution].
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth; for You have answered me [kindly] from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise You.(J)
23 You who fear (revere and worship) the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him. Fear (revere and worship) Him, all you offspring of Israel.
24 For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great congregation. I will pay to Him my vows [made in the time of trouble] before them who fear (revere and worship) Him.
26 The poor and afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord—they who [diligently] seek for, inquire of and for Him, and require Him [as their greatest need]. May your hearts be quickened now and forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow down and worship before You,
28 For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord’s, and He is the ruler over the nations.
29 All the mighty ones upon earth shall eat [in thanksgiving] and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve Him; they shall tell of the Lord to the next generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born—that He has done it [that it is finished]!(K)
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David and king in Jerusalem.
2 Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities, says the Preacher. Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities! All is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and vainglory).(A)
3 What profit does man have left from all his toil at which he toils [a]under the sun? [Is life worth living?]
4 One generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth remains forever.(B)
5 The sun also rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind goes to the south and circles about to the north; it circles and circles about continually, and on its circuit the wind returns again.(C)
7 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from which the rivers come, to there and from there they return again.
8 All things are weary with toil and all words are feeble; man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.(D)
9 The thing that has been—it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been, in the vast ages of time [recorded or unrecorded] which were before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former happenings or men, neither will there be any remembrance of happenings of generations that are to come by those who are to come after them.
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I applied myself by heart and mind to seek and search out by [human] [b]wisdom all human activity under heaven. It is a miserable business which [c]God has given to the sons of man with which to busy themselves.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind and a feeding on wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is defective and lacking cannot be counted.
16 I entered into counsel with my own mind, saying, Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom, yes, more than all who have been over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.
17 And I gave my mind to know [practical] wisdom and to discern [the character of] madness and folly [in which men seem to find satisfaction]; I perceived that this also is a searching after wind and a feeding on it.(E)
18 For in much [human] wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
3 The saying is true and irrefutable: If any man [eagerly] seeks the office of bishop (superintendent, overseer), he desires an excellent task (work).
2 Now a bishop (superintendent, overseer) must give no grounds for accusation but must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, circumspect and temperate and self-controlled; [he must be] sensible and well behaved and dignified and lead an orderly (disciplined) life; [he must be] hospitable [showing love for and being a friend to the believers, especially strangers or foreigners, and be] a capable and qualified teacher,
3 Not given to wine, not combative but gentle and considerate, not quarrelsome but forbearing and peaceable, and not a lover of money [insatiable for wealth and ready to obtain it by questionable means].
4 He must rule his own household well, keeping his children under control, with true dignity, commanding their respect in every way and keeping them respectful.
5 For if a man does not know how to rule his own household, how is he to take care of the church of God?
6 He must not be a new convert, or he may [develop a beclouded and stupid state of mind] as the result of pride [be blinded by conceit, and] fall into the condemnation that the devil [once] did.(A)
7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation and be well thought of by those outside [the church], lest he become involved in slander and incur reproach and fall into the devil’s trap.
8 In like manner the deacons [must be] worthy of respect, not shifty and double-talkers but sincere in what they say, not given to much wine, not greedy for base gain [craving wealth and resorting to ignoble and dishonest methods of getting it].
9 They must possess the mystic secret of the faith [Christian truth as hidden from ungodly men] with a clear conscience.
10 And let them also be tried and investigated and proved first; then, if they turn out to be above reproach, let them serve [as deacons].
11 [a][The] women likewise must be worthy of respect and serious, not gossipers, but temperate and self-controlled, [thoroughly] trustworthy in all things.
12 Let deacons be the husbands of but one wife, and let them manage [their] children and their own households well.
13 For those who perform well as deacons acquire a good standing for themselves and also gain much confidence and freedom and boldness in the faith which is [founded on and centers] in Christ Jesus.
14 Although I hope to come to you before long, I am writing these instructions to you so that,
15 If I am detained, you may know how people ought to conduct themselves in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and stay (the prop and support) of the Truth.
16 And great and important and weighty, we confess, is the hidden truth (the mystic secret) of godliness. He [[b]God] was made visible in human flesh, justified and vindicated in the [Holy] Spirit, was seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, [and] taken up in glory.
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